The stench of burned food, stinky sweat socks, or old dog has filled the house and guests are coming to dinner. How do you get rid of that unpleasant odor fast? Well, Grandma always grabbed a pot of water and a jar of cinnamon.
Dump at least a tablespoon of cinnamon in the water and put the pot on the stove to simmer. Soon, the pleasant odor of cinnamon will fill the house instead.
Crandma’s kitchen always smelled fabulous during the holidays, even when she wasn’t making cookies. Her secret weapon was her potholder. She would add cinnamon, nutmeg, or ginger to the potholder when she stuffed it with batting. The heat from pots and pans resting on the holder released the scent and the smell filled the kitchen.
If you don’t make your own potholders, don’t worry. All you need is a store bought pot holder, a hot glue gun, a seam ripper or scissors, and a teaspoon or so of your favorite spice to re-create Grandma’s magic.
Look for the place where the pot holder was closed up after it was stuffed. This spot is often hand stiched shut instead of being machine stitched. Unstitch approximately one inch with a seam ripper or scissors. Drop the spice into the hole you have created in the pot holder and then hot glue it shut. (If you use other types of glue, it will be too hard for you to re-open the pot holder to add more spice.) If you are really handy, sew on a snap to re-close the hole, instead.
Related Website: Cheap Holidays go this summer to Cheap Turkey Holiday.
Grandma believed that even boring chores could be fun when everyone worked together. Of course, if there was a reward at the end, it made chore time even more enjoyable. Somehow, before she sent her girls to do the dusting, Grandma found the time to hide ten pennies. When the girls dusted thoroughly, they would find the pennies. After the chores were done, the family would walk to the market, where they used their ten pennies to buy a selection of penny candy.
Today, we hide enough dimes so that our little dusters will be able to buy an ice cream cone at the local store. They seem to enjoy their treat even more when they worked to earn the money to pay for it.
